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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Oregon and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Marcus Mariota showed they might be the team to beat with a 59-20 thrashing of defending national champion Florida State in the first semifinal of the College Football Playoff.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monday\u2019s championship game against Ohio State will be like the two teams looking in the mirror.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This season, Oregon averaged 47.2 points per game. Ohio State scored 45 per game. Oregon\u2019s defense gave up 22.3 points a game; Ohio State surrendered 26.1.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The difference in the game may be the defenses. Oregon gives up nearly 422 yards a game, while the Buckeyes give up 112 fewer yards.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The running games will also be prominent, with Mariota and running back Byron Marshall, who is on the national cover of this week\u2019s &lt;em&gt;Sports Illustrated&lt;/em&gt;. Oregon ran for 301 yards against Florida State.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ohio State has its own running game threat behind Cardale Jones and Ezekiel Elliott, who ran for 230 yards and two scores in the Buckeyes\u2019 42-35 upset of top-seeded Alabama.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For more on the College Football Playoffs, check out&amp;nbsp;this week's Sports Illustrated. (subscribe here)\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also in this issue: features on New England Patriots All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski, Denver&amp;nbsp;Broncos&amp;nbsp;Executive Vice President of Football Operations and NFL Hall of Famer John&amp;nbsp;Elway, former college basketball coach George Raveling and Ohio State's All-American defensive lineman Joey&amp;nbsp;Bosa.\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/01/06/oregon-byron-marshall-sports-illustrated-cover>